From J. J. Weir [before 30 May 1868]
Summary
Reversion of tamed animals to wild behaviour.
| Author: | John Jenner Weir |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 30 May 1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 181: 73 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5748 |
From W. D. Fox [before 14 May 1868]
Summary
Pairing habits of birds: polygamy among ducks and canaries.
Information on the proportion of sexes in fowls and other birds.
| Author: | William Darwin Fox |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 14 May 1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 86: A83–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5762 |
To T. H. Huxley [before 18 May 1868]
Summary
Questions on marmosets and the vocal organs of Hylobates.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Date: | [before 18 May 1868] |
| Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 373) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6148 |
From J. J. Weir [4–7] May 1868
Summary
Proportion of sexes in ruffs [see Descent 1: 306].
Colour display in linnets, songbirds. Courtship display of Australian pigeon at zoo.
| Author: | John Jenner Weir |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [4–7] May 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 84.1: 75–6, DAR 86: C3–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6151 |
From A. R. Wallace 1 May [1868]
Summary
Answers CD’s objection [see 6121 and 6146] about sexual differences and protective colouring. Summarises his theory of colour in nature.
| Author: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 May [1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 83: 191–2 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6153 |
To George Bentham 1 May [1868]
Summary
Sends Ernst Haeckel’s [Generelle] Morphologie [1866] and C. K. Sprengel’s book [Entdeckte Geheimniss der Natur (1793)].
A. Gaudry and L. Rütimeyer have declared in favour of CD’s views.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Bentham |
| Date: | 1 May [1868] |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Bentham Correspondence, Vol. 3, Daintree–Dyer, 1830–1884, GEB/1/3: f. 702) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6154 |
From James Murie 1 May 1868
Summary
Measurements of the Bornean ape (Macacus inornatus, Gray). [See Descent 1: 151.]
| Author: | James Murie |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 May 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 80: B124, B156–7 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6155 |
From B. D. Walsh 1 May 1868
Summary
BDW believes the coloration of species [of Anthocaris] provides a case of sexual selection.
The state of entomology in the U. S.; Darwinism now a common creed, especially among entomologists.
| Author: | Benjamin Dann Walsh |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 May 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 82: A115–16 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6156 |
From George Cupples 1 May 1868
Summary
Has read Variation;
is preparing a monograph on Scotch deerhounds. Offers CD information on size of male and female deerhounds.
Might not the effect of human mother’s imagination on "character of offspring" support Pangenesis?
| Author: | George Cupples |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 May 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 283 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6157 |
From Edward Blyth 3 May 1868
Summary
Reports another case of syndactylism.
| Author: | Edward Blyth |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 May 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 214 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6158 |
From Gilbert William Child 3 May [1868]
Summary
Requests CD testimonial for Sherardian Professorship of Botany.
| Author: | Gilbert William Child |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 May [1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 143 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6159 |
From John Scott 4 May 1868
Summary
Replies to CD’s query on expression of emotions.
| Author: | John Scott |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 4 May 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 118 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6160 |
To A. R. Wallace 5 May [1868]
Summary
Criticism of ARW for too little esteem of the role of sexual selection as agent in giving colour.
Response to other topics.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Date: | 5 May [1868] |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Add MS 46434: 140–1) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6161 |
To G. W. Child 6 May [1868]
Summary
Cannot judge GWC’s fitness for the Botanical Chair at Oxford. But CD appreciates his work, particularly that on spontaneous generation [Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 13 (1863–4): 313; 14 (1865): 178].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Gilbert William Child |
| Date: | 6 May [1868] |
| Classmark: | Royal College of Physicians of London (RCP/LEGAC/1001/64) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6162 |
To G. W. Child [6 May 1868]
Summary
Encloses a testimonial for GWC [see 6162]. Feels himself poorly qualified to give a testimonial for a botanist and apologises for his brevity.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Gilbert William Child |
| Date: | [6 May 1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 96: 56 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6163 |
To Otto Staudinger 6 May [1868]
Summary
Asks about the ratio of male to female Lepidoptera.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Otto Staudinger |
| Date: | 6 May [1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 147: 491 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6164 |
To J. J. Weir 7 May [1868]
Summary
Thanks JJW for his great assistance.
Discusses sexual selection in birds.
Sends queries on secondary sexual characteristics of birds.
Has often marvelled at the different growth of the flowering and creeping branches of ivy.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Jenner Weir |
| Date: | 7 May [1868] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6165 |
From G. W. Child 7 May [1868]
Summary
Thanks CD for testimonial.
| Author: | Gilbert William Child |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 May [1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 144 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6166 |
To Asa Gray 8 May [1868]
Summary
AG’s review of Variation [Nation 6 (1868): 234–6] very good.
CD’s fondness for Pangenesis; although an "infant cherished by few", CD expects it to have a long life.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 8 May [1868] |
| Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (94) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6167 |
From Leonard Jenyns 9 May 1868
Summary
Sends his notes on Florent Prévost’s reference to the habits of the cuckoo.
| Author: | Leonard Jenyns; Leonard Blomefield |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 9 May 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 168: 58 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6168 |
| letter | (75) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (30) |
| Cupples, George | (3) |
| Weir, J. J. | (3) |
| Bates, H. W. | (2) |
| Blyth, Edward | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (44) |
| Tegetmeier, W. B. | (3) |
| Weir, J. J. | (3) |
| Child, G. W. | (2) |
| Cupples, George | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (74) |
| Weir, J. J. | (6) |
| Cupples, George | (5) |
| Child, G. W. | (4) |
| Tegetmeier, W. B. | (4) |
Wearing his knowledge lightly: From Fritz Müller, 5 April 1878
Summary
Darwin received letters from so many people and wrote so many fascinating letters himself, that it’s hard to choose from many letters that stand out, but one of this editor’s favourites, that always brings a smile, is a letter from Fritz Müller written 5…
Matches: 1 hits
- … brings a smile, is a letter from Fritz Müller written 5 April 1878 . Müller was a German …
4.48 'Puck', cartoon 5
Summary
< Back to Introduction Following on from Reason Against Unreason and The Sun of the Nineteenth Century, another cartoon in the American humorous magazine Puck depicted Darwin as the epitome of philosophical enlightenment. The Universal Church of the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction Following on from Reason Against Unreason and The Sun of …
My most solemn request: To Emma Darwin, 5 July 1844
Summary
Alistair Sponsel talks about a touching letter Darwin sent to his wife Emma in 1844. Having just completed a sketch of his species theory, Darwin wrote detailed instructions about what to do with his manuscript in the event of his death.
Matches: 1 hits
- … Alistair Sponsel talks about a touching letter Darwin sent to his wife …
Charles Harrison Blackley
Summary
You may not have heard of Charles Harrison Blackley (1820–1900), but if you are one of the 15 million people in the UK who suffer from hay fever, you are indebted to him. For it was he who identified pollen as the cause of the allergy. Darwin was…
Darwin and Down
Summary
Charles and Emma Darwin, with their first two children, settled at Down House in the village of Down (later ‘Downe’) in Kent, as a young family in 1842. The house came with eighteen acres of land, and a fifteen acre meadow. The village combined the…
Darwin in letters, 1872: Job done?
Summary
'My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, 'is so nearly closed. . . What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’, and the tenor of his correspondence throughout the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye…
Matches: 5 hits
- … appear’, complained Darwin ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 5 January 1872 ). Piqued, Mivart flung …
- … accepted it at least in part ( letter to August Weismann, 5 April 1872 ). ‘I wanted some …
- … to believe it’ ( letter to Herman Müller, [before 5 May 1872] ). Müller had sent him a …
- … myself was standing’ ( letter to Hermann Müller, [before 5 May 1872] ). Finishing …
- … to me, which have ever been made’ ( letter to Mary Treat, 5 January 1872 ). In June, Lady …
Darwin's Fantastical Voyage
Summary
Learn about Darwin's adventures on his epic journey.
Matches: 1 hits
- … These activities explore Darwin’s life changing voyage aboard HMS Beagle. Using letters home, …
Detecting Darwin
Summary
Who was Charles Darwin? What is he famous for? Why is he still important?
Matches: 1 hits
- … Pupils act as Darwin detectives, exploring clues about Darwin’s life and work. No prior knowledge …
Language: Interview with Gregory Radick
Summary
Darwin made a famous comment about parallels between changes in language and species change. Gregory Radick, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Leeds University, talks about the importance of the development of language to Darwin, what…
Darwin’s queries on expression
Summary
When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations more widely and composed a list of queries on human expression. A number of handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to Fritz Muller…
List of correspondents
Summary
Below is a list of Darwin's correspondents with the number of letters for each one. Click on a name to see the letters Darwin exchanged with that correspondent. "A child of God" (1) Abberley,…
Matches: 20 hits
- … (1) Austen, J. T. (5) Austin, A. D. …
- … H. (7) Ball, John (5) Ball, Robert …
- … (1) Beaufort, Francis (5) Becher, A. B. …
- … (8) Beneden, Édouard van (5) Bennet, C. A. (b) …
- … (1) Birch, Samuel (5) Birkett, Thomas …
- … (2) Boner, Charles (5) Bonham-Carter, Alice …
- … (2) Bookseller. (5) Boole, M. E. (3) …
- … (29) Brace, C. L. (5) Bradfield, Thomas …
- … (3) Canby, W. M. (5) Candolle, Alphonse de …
- … Carneri, Bartholomäus von (5) Carpenter, W. B. (19) …
- … (3) Clark, Andrew (5) Clark, J. W. (a) …
- … (2) Collingwood, Cuthbert (5) Colvile, J. W. …
- … (1) Cross, George (5) Cross, R. A. …
- … (4) Crotch, W. D. (5) Crowe, J. R. …
- … (1) Dew-Smith, A. G. (5) Dicey, A. V. …
- … (2) Doedes, N. D. (5) Dohrn, Anton …
- … (3) Drummond, James (a) (5) Drysdale, …
- … (3) Edmondston, Laurence (5) Edwards & …
- … (1) Edwards, Henry (5) Edwards, W. H. …
- … (3) Forchhammer, J. G. (5) Ford, G. H. …
Darwin in letters, 1863: Quarrels at home, honours abroad
Summary
At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of animals and plants under domestication, anticipating with excitement the construction of a hothouse to accommodate his increasingly varied botanical experiments…
Matches: 7 hits
- … as he put it in a letter to J. D. Hooker of 24[–5] February [1863] . When Huxley’s book described …
- … mentor had not said a word ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] ). Darwin did …
- … for a fitting opportunity’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 5 [and 6] January [1863] ). …
- … been filled in the fossil record ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 5 [and 6] January [1863] ). Only until …
- … the Athenæum in response ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 March [1863] ). He later expressed …
- … honours like the Copley Medal ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 [December 1863] ). Plants and …
- … reminder of their loss (see Correspondence vol. 5). Unable to find Annie’s gravestone in 1863, …
The Lyell–Lubbock dispute
Summary
In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book Prehistoric times, accused Lyell of plagiarism. The dispute caused great dismay among many of their mutual scientific friends, some of whom took immediate action…
Matches: 5 hits
- … in Danish (Morlot 1859, Forchhammer et al. 1851–5); Lubbock cited Morlot as the source of many …
- … work in the Brixham cave explorations of 1858 and 1859. 5 Another controversy arose when …
- … editions of Antiquity of man , see Grayson 1985. 5. For two interpretations of Hugh …
- … Correspondence vol. 11, letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] . On Lyell’s …
- … 1865 (University of Edinburgh, Lyell 1, Gen. 113: 3644–5). 17. Rough notes for letter …
Have you read the one about....
Summary
... the atheistical cats, or the old fogies in Cambridge? We've suggested a few - some funny, some serious - but all letters you can read here.
Matches: 1 hits
- … ... the atheistical cats, or the old fogies in Cambridge? We've suggested a few - some funny, some …
Rewriting Origin - the later editions
Summary
For such an iconic work, the text of Origin was far from static. It was a living thing that Darwin continued to shape for the rest of his life, refining his ‘one long argument’ through a further five English editions. Many of his changes were made in…
Matches: 5 hits
- … 1865 4 th English edition published, 1866 5 th English edition published, 1869 …
- … Joseph Hooker on the Arctic. 4 th to 5 th edition I have, …
- … von Nägeli, resulting in a substantial addition ( Origin 5 th ed, pp 151–3). Nägeli had …
- … of significant correspondents. 5 th to 6 th edition …
- … French edition which had already begun using the text of the 5 th English edition but had fallen …
Darwin’s hothouse and lists of hothouse plants
Summary
Darwin became increasingly involved in botanical experiments in the years after the publication of Origin. The building of a small hothouse - a heated greenhouse - early in 1863 greatly increased the range of plants that he could keep for scientific…
Matches: 14 hits
- … account book (Down House MS) and Correspondence vol. 5, letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 April [1855 …
- … beauty in each leaf’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] ). Darwin’s aesthetic …
- … to which they belonged. In his letter to Hooker of 5 March [1863] , he announced that the plants …
- … by Darwin; these lists are in DAR 255: 8 and DAR 255: 2–5. The first is a list that Darwin …
- … plants sent to him by Hooker (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 March [1863] ), since many of the …
- … to Darwin from Kew. Darwin said in the letter to Hooker of 5 March [1863] that he had received …
- … Malpighia urens 5 …
- … —— speciosa 5 do. do. …
- … § Gongora atropurpurea 5 § Cyrtopodium Andersonii …
- … § —— maculata 5 —— punctata 10 …
- … Anoectochilus argenteus 12 5 s . § …
- … curassavica. 4. Canna Warszewiczii. 5. ‘speciosa’ deleted in pencil. 6. This …
- … 1863a, p. 10. See also letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] and n. 19. 9. …
- … aurantiaca 12. ‘Anoectochilus argenteus 5 s .’ deleted in ink. 13. ‘—— pictus 8 …
Abstract of Darwin’s theory
Summary
There are two extant versions of the abstract of Darwin’s theory of natural selection. One was sent to Asa Gray on 5 September 1857, enclosed with a letter of the same date (see Correspondence vol. 6, letter to Asa Gray, 5 September [1857] and enclosure).…
Matches: 3 hits
German poems presented to Darwin
Summary
Experiments in deepest reverence The following poems were enclosed with a photograph album sent as a birthday gift to Charles Darwin by his German and Austrian admirers (see letter from From Emil Rade, [before 16] February 1877). The poems were…
Matches: 1 hits
- … gewidmete Gedichte sind dem Album besonders beigefügt. 5 Translation …
'An Appeal' against animal cruelty
Summary
The four-page pamphlet transcribed below and entitled 'An Appeal', was composed jointly by Emma and Charles Darwin (see letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, [29 September 1863]). The pamphlet, which protested against the cruelty of steel vermin…
Matches: 3 hits
Darwin in letters, 1868: Studying sex
Summary
The quantity of Darwin’s correspondence increased dramatically in 1868 due largely to his ever-widening research on human evolution and sexual selection.Darwin’s theory of sexual selection as applied to human descent led him to investigate aspects of the…
Matches: 5 hits
- … able to throw off thick dictionaries by flexing. On 5 April , Edward Blyth, who had supplied …
- … 3 June 1868 ). ‘It was very kind’, Darwin wrote on 5 June , ‘almost heroic, in you to sacrifice …
- … distributed it in Japan ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 5 September 1868 ); Edward Wilson, a neighbour …
- … Molendo and Alexander Walther addressed themselves on 5 August to ‘the Reformator of Natural …
- … had sent four letters the previous year, wrote again on 5 October , ‘I am quite distressed that …
